BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between early childhood caries (ECC) in 3-5-year-old children, seven indicators of poverty and the indicator of monetary poverty in low- and middle-income countries (LICs, MICs). METHODS This ecologic study utilized 2007 to 2017 country-level data for LICs and MICs. Explanatory variables were seven indicators of poverty namely food, water, sanitation, health, shelter, access to information, education; and monetary poverty. The outcome variable was the percentage of 3-5-year-old children with ECC. A series of univariate general linear regression models were used to assess the relationship between the percentage of 3-5 year-old children with ECC and each of the seven indicators of poverty, and monetary poverty. This was followed by multivariable regression models to determined the combined effect of the seven indicators of poverty, as well as the combined effect of the seven indicators of poverty and monetary poverty. Adjusted R2 measured models' ability to explain the variation among LICs and MICs in the percentage of 3-5-year-old children with ECC. RESULTS Significantly more people had food, sanitation, shelter, access to information, education and monetary poverty in LICs than in MICs. There was no difference in the prevalence of ECC in 3-5-year-old children between LICs and MICs. The combination of the seven indicators of poverty explained 15% of the variation in the percentage of 3-5-year-old children with ECC compared to 1% explained by monetary poverty. When the seven indicators of poverty and the indicator for monetary poverty were combined, the amount of variation explained by them was 10%. Only two of the poverty indicators had a direct relationship with the percentage of children with ECC; there was a higher percentage of ECC in countries with higher percentage of population living in slums (B = 0.35) and in those countries with higher percentage of the population living below poverty lines (B = 0.19). The other indicators had an inverse relationship. CONCLUSION The use of multiple indicators to measures of poverty explained greater amount of variation in the percentage of 3-5-year-olds with ECC in LICs and MICs than using only the indicator for monetary poverty.

中文翻译：

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低收入和中等收入国家的幼儿龋齿与贫困之间的关联。

背景技术这项研究的目的是评估3至5岁儿童的早期龋齿（ECC），低收入和中等收入国家（LIC，MIC）的七个贫困指标和货币贫困指标之间的关系。 ）。方法这项生态研究利用了2007年至2017年国家低收入国家和中等收入国家的数据。解释性变量是贫困的七个指标，即食物，水，卫生，健康，住房，信息获取，教育；和货币贫困。结果变量是3-5岁ECC儿童的百分比。一系列单变量一般线性回归模型用于评估3-5岁ECC儿童的百分比与贫困和货币贫困这七个指标中每个指标之间的关系。其次是多元回归模型，以确定贫困的七个指标的综合效果，以及贫困和货币贫困的七个指标的综合效果。调整后的R2测量模型能够解释3-5岁ECC儿童百分比中LIC和MIC之间的差异。结果与中等收入国家相比，低收入国家的人们拥有食物，卫生设施，住房，信息，教育和金钱贫困的人数明显多于中等收入国家。LIC和MIC之间3-5岁儿童的ECC患病率无差异。七个贫困指标的组合解释了3-5岁ECC儿童百分比变化的15％，而货币贫困则解释了1％。当将贫困的七个指标和货币贫困的指标结合起来时，他们解释的变化量为10％。只有两个贫困指标与患有ECC的儿童的百分比有直接关系；在贫民窟中人口百分比较高的国家（B = 0.35）和在贫困线以下人口百分比较高的国家（B = 0.19），ECC的比例较高。其他指标呈反比关系。结论使用多种指标衡量贫困的原因表明，与仅使用货币贫困指标相比，低收入国家和中等收入国家中有ECC的3-5岁儿童所占百分比的变化更大。在贫民窟中人口百分比较高的国家（B = 0.35）和在贫困线以下人口百分比较高的国家（B = 0.19），ECC的比例较高。其他指标呈反比关系。结论使用多种指标衡量贫困的原因表明，与仅使用货币贫困指标相比，低收入国家和中等收入国家中有ECC的3-5岁儿童所占百分比的变化更大。在贫民窟中人口百分比较高的国家（B = 0.35）和在贫困线以下人口百分比较高的国家（B = 0.19），ECC的比例较高。其他指标呈反比关系。结论使用多种指标衡量贫困的原因表明，与仅使用货币贫困指标相比，低收入国家和中等收入国家中有ECC的3-5岁儿童所占百分比的变化更大。